The present invention relates to a milk-flow measuring method to be employed in milking systems for direct measurement during milking of the amount of milk obtained from a cow, with both a vacuum separation compartment in which the milk is separated from the originally obtained mixture of milk and air and, downstream from the separation compartment, a milk-volume measurement compartment that has at least one sensor near the top for measuring the level of milk accumulating in it, a milk outlet in the floor that can be opened and closed in accordance with the level of the milk, and a measuring and counting device for determining the total amount of milk in terms of the sum of the individual portions extracted from the measurement compartment.
Another milk-volume measuring method of the type just described is known from German OS 2 810 376. Its separation compartment communicates with its measurement compartment through a milk inlet that can be opened and closed with a valve. The valve is attached to a control rod that has another valve at the bottom and that can close off the milk outlet in the floor. When the upper valve leaves the milk inlet open, the lower valve closes off the milk outlet and vice versa.
The separation compartment in this device is connected to a low-pressure line. Since, when the device is in operation, vapor from the milk gets into this line, it has to be cleaned.
Since fresh milk has to flow into the separation compartment while the inlet into the measurement compartment is closed, the separation compartment must have a fairly large capacity. A design that employs a control rod and two valves is expensive and results in different pressures in the separation and measurement compartments.
German application No. P 30 20 161.7-52 (corresponding to copending U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,249), specifies a milk-volume meter of the type initially described, but small, without an exterior low-pressure line into the separation compartment, and providing very precise measurements, even though the milk outlet does not have to be calibrated.